Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a *hopefully* breeding pair of BRBs right now, and I just took the male out of the female's cage this week. Earlier in the year, particularly in January, they were always together and on two separate occasions I witnessed tail wraps. On January 22nd, the female shed a little sooner than I had expected her to, and tail wrapping activity seemed to peak right around this time for about two weeks. My questions are as follows:

. Was that shed on the 22nd what you guys call a post-ovulation shed? She has refused feeding ever since this shed, but I am confused by it since she seemed MORE receptive to the male AFTER the shed (I thought it was supposed to be the other way around?)
. If it was, and she is indeed pregnant, then when would I be able to see visible signs of "impregnation" from the female (swelling, laying on the side, etc).

I am new to snake breeding, but very familiar with snakes in general. Thanks for any information!
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Innocent as a dove you will harm no one, but wise as a serpent no one will harm you. - Haug

I am very glad to see someone still posting here. My females usually look gravid at about the same time they quit feeding and the males stop courting them. The shed in january was probably not a post ovulation shed if the male was still interested in mating after the shed. Shedding during breeding season often causes an increase in sexual activity. Weather changes, especially frontal passages will also cause an increase in sexual activity. If the male was still showing any sign of interest in the female when you seperated them you should put them back together. Gravid females may or may not look swollen depending on how big and heavy they were before they became gravid. You can sometimes let them crawl through your fingers putting a little pressure on them and feel the egg masses as they pass through your fingers. The masses will feel like they are around three quarters the size of a hen's egg and will feel firm but not hard. With especially large and muscular females it is often not possible to detect the masses. Their girth and musculature will keep your fingers from detecting the lumps. The lumps after breeding has stopped and the female has quit eating could possibly not be fertilized and so are not a 100% sure sign that the female is gravid. Side laying is a good but also not sure sign of gravidity. Non gravid BRBs will often side lay to gain extra warmth. Gravid females that have access to plenty of heat will side lay but do it less often than females that need the extra heat. If your female was impregnated during the mating in late january the shed after that would be the post ovulation shed for you to start counting the days. This time of year can be stressful waiting to know whether you are going to get some baby snakes. Around 4 to 4 and a half months into gravidity you will be able to detect fetal heart tones with a doppler fetal heart monitor. Good Luck!

I agree, definitely better to leave the male in longer if you are not sure.

John Wiseman
Rainbowsbydesign.com

Thanks guys, I will put him back in. They had stopped hanging out together so I assumed she was "done" with his company
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Innocent as a dove you will harm no one, but wise as a serpent no one will harm you. - Haug

I put the male back in on the 11th, but did not personally witness any further breeding activity. However, this morning I noticed the female is starting to go into blue. This is definitely sooner than expected, as she just shed at the end of January. This brings up more questions...

. Would a post ovulation shed occur only if impregnation was successful, or would it happen naturally without any influence from a male?
. How long after impregnation would a post ovulation shed occur? Would it be a week, two weeks, or a matter of days?

Thanks so much, guys!
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Innocent as a dove you will harm no one, but wise as a serpent no one will harm you. - Haug

From what I've seen and recorded over many successful litters.....

several weeks of off and on mating

a few days to two weeks of no mating noted

Ovulation (not often noted)

16 days later the POS

Typical timespan between last noted mating and POS is 3 - 4 weeks.

After POS, due date is 117 days later plus/minus ten days.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (02/01/2010):
42.61 BRB
27.40 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thank you for that tentative time chart, that is excellent! I am hoping that this is a POS then, since their activity seems to be very close to what you have observed in your collection... I suppose I can only keep my fingers crossed.
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Innocent as a dove you will harm no one, but wise as a serpent no one will harm you. - Haug